All aboard with Thomas the Tank Engine!

Generations of visitors often remember their first time going to Edaville USA, and Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends are sure to make it all that more memorable for future generations visiting his first permanent home in North America.

CARVER – Generations of visitors often remember their first time going to Edaville USA, and Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends are sure to make it all that more memorable for future generations visiting his first permanent home in North America.

The first Thomas Land outside of the United Kingston and Japan is on track for an opening in the summer of 2015 at the family fun amusement park in Carver. It will serve to further put southeastern Massachusetts on the map as a tourist destination.

Passion, persistence and vision were among the attributes used to describe Edaville USA owner Jon Delli Priscoli during Tuesday's ceremonial groundbreaking for Thomas Land. He agrees that those qualities played a role in bringing Thomas Land to Carver.

"I thinks it's very accurate," he said. "I think all those ingredients are a requirement of a successful enterprise such as this. People can have resources, people can have passion, people can have ideas, but if you don't have it all and bring it and channel it, it's never going to happen. You need all those components to melt together and move forward, and that's what's happened here."

By partnering with HiT Entertainment, a preschool entertainment company also known for its Angelina Ballerina, Barnie, and Bob the Builder brands, to bring Thomas to life in North America, Priscoli said is a major part of his vision for Edaville. Instead of Day Out with Thomas events on a periodic basis, Thomas will be home, he said. Teamwork helped fulfill that vision, he said.

Sid Mathur, vice president of Mattel-owned HiT Entertainment, said Mattel's goal of growing Thomas & Friends as a global brand by bringing the fictional Island of Sodor and home to Thomas the Tank Engine to the Americas is being realized in Carver.

"It's the perfect location," he said. "This is Sodor. This is designed around nature, it is about trains, and it's about the community, which is what Thomas is all about."

Mathur said when Mattel acquired HIT, a division of Fisher-Price, the Mattel subsidiary that owns the Thomas brand, about two and a half years ago, the company recognized the powerful growth potential of a brand that generates about $1 billion in sales.

The Thomas Land in Carver will be bigger than the Thomas Lands in operation in the UK and Japan. It will be constructed on 11 acres of the park and will feature 14 rides including a 20-minute ride on a life-sized Thomas the Tank Engine and a Harold the Helicopter ride.

Mather said HITs's director of live events, Julie Freeland, formerly director of Day Out With Thomas events at Edaville, has been working with Priscoli on the Thomas brand for seven years, and with Mattel on board an idea has come to fruition.

Page 2 of 2 - Sen. Marc Sen. Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton, used the words passion and persistence to describe Edaville's owner. Pacheco was going to be out of town but changed his plans to attend the groundbreaking, he said, because he's so excited about the possibilities for bringing tourists to the area and creating new jobs.

Pacheco remembers visiting Edaville with his parents as a little boy and excitement of it, especially at Christmastime.

"Those wonderful memories that are created here will continue to be created for generations into the future so I want to thank you," he said.

Rep. Susan Williams Gifford, R-Wareham, like Mathur before her, used the word vision to describe Priscoli. Thomas Land will transform Edaville, she said, to add extra excitement to the park. She said the economic impact on Carver and the entire southeastern region and beyond can be overstated.

Plymouth County Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Paul Cripps said he remembers how much fun he had at Edaville as a boy because it was such an adventure. Visiting the park recently with his 2 1/2-year-old grandson, who was shaking with excitement as he got out of the car parked in a full lot, he said he was reminded of the joy it brings.

From a tourism perspective, he said, it's really quite a thing to have Thomas Land coming to Carver, and he doesn't foresee any great difficulty promoting Thomas Land as a destination that will bring people pure joy.

"I know the economic development is an important piece, the jobs are an important piece, but if we walk away with anything, the memories that are made here for those little people who grow up and eventually run our towns and our state and influence the world, the positive feelings they get from here, is something that will set a course for them as it has probably for many of us," he said.

Carver Town Administrator Michael Milanoski said Thomas Land and continued expansion at Edaville will bring desperately needed jobs to the region and have a positive economic impact on families.

"When you really look at the project in the long term, wholesome family values is what Thomas the Tank Engine is all about," he said. "Right here in Carver, we're all so excited about having this additional expansion."

Milanoski speaks from experience about what Thomas the Tank Engine means to children and families. Before his son could talk, he had his father create the Island of Sodor at home. He said it's what Thomas represents, those wholesome family values, that really bring meaning to the project.

Edaville celebrates 70 years this year. Priscoli has been owner since 2002.